The Holiday
by Kalta79
Summary: Sequel to Coupling, focusing on Zack/Elena and Rude/Aerith in alternate chapters
1. Chapter 1

Zack took a deep breath and opened the door, walking inside the house. "Mom? Dad?" he called out.

"Zack?" Alicia said in surprise as she came out of the kitchen and saw her son there with his duffel bag. "What are you doing here?" she asked as she gave him a hug.

"Um, I'm on vacation, so I thought I'd come home for a while. Where's Dad?"

"He's puttering around in his shop. I'm almost done with lunch, why don't you go put your bag in your room and clean up, by that time it should be ready."

After Zack went upstairs, Alicia wondered why he hadn't called like he usually did before he came for a visit. She put it out of her mind and hurried outside to the workshop.

"Jonathan!" she yelled to be heard over the power tools.

"What is it?" he asked, not too happy to be interrupted in his man cave.

"We've got a special guest for lunch and you're a mess, get all that grease and sawdust off you and be in the kitchen in five minutes or else!" Alicia said before rushing back to the house to finish cooking.

Jonathan stood there bewildered, but just shrugged and started cleaning up. Once he decided he was clean enough, he went back to the house, stunned to see their Zack sitting at the kitchen table.

"Son, what are you doing here?" Jonathan asked as he sat down.

"I'm on leave." Zack said, looking down at the table and blushing. He was glad that wasn't a total lie, but he wasn't going to tell his parents that he was on unpaid leave because he got caught after hours in the training room having sex, which meant he was not only fraternizing, since they had tripped the security alarm, there was also the question of if he and Elena were breaking and entering. Plus it had interrupted their bosses' evening plans to have to drop everything and come back to headquarters to catch them in the act.

For dinner, Alicia insisted he wear something nice because she was cooking all of his favorite foods in honor of his visit. He wasn't happy when he came downstairs and saw Lucy sitting at the kitchen table next to his spot. His mother never quit trying to reunite him with his childhood sweetheart, who was now the postmistress for Gongaga village.

"Hi Lucy." he said as politely as he could manage.

"Lucy just happened to drop by with some mail that got sent to the wrong address, isn't that so thoughtful?" Alicia beamed to see Zack and Lucy sitting together. "I thought dinner with us would be a good way to repay her."

Jonathan hadn't missed Zack seeming to be uncomfortable, and his unencouraging response to Lucy's attempts to chat him up. Alicia noticed as well that her son was almost rude to Lucy, and after dinner, she confronted him.

"Why did you treat Lucy like that? She's a nice girl, and you and she-" Alicia started to say.

"Mom, that was a long time ago. Lucy's the past, and…" Zack paused. He had been about to say that Elena was the future, but he wasn't sure if what they had was even a relationship, or how they really felt about each other.

"And?" Alicia prodded, looking intently at her son. "Do you have a lady friend you haven't told us about? You're blushing! Who is she?"

"She's just someone I met at work." Zack admitted reluctantly.

"Call her and invite her for a visit, I need to meet the woman who can make my First Class son blush like that. You owe me for your disrespectful attitude towards Lucy anyway." Alicia stated, giving him an angry look.

"Yes, mom."

* * *

Elena was just about to take a relaxing bath when her phone rang. Wondering who could be calling her, she was surprised to see it was Zack. Despite how upset she was at being suspended from the Turks for an indeterminate amount of time, she involuntarily smiled as she answered the phone.

"Hello." Elena said.

"Um, hi. Are you busy next week?" Zack asked.

"I am quite free next week, you should know that." Elena snapped, her smile turning into a frown at his idiotic question.

"I'm just asking because my parents would like you to come for a visit." Zack said in a conciliatory tone.

"What?" Elena was dumbfounded. "Um, let me think about it and get back to you."

"Sure, just um, lemme know as soon as you decide." Zack said nervously as he hung up.

Elena stared at the phone, still stunned. Zack wanted her to meet his parents? What kind of relationship did he think they had? Then Elena frowned as she realized she had just referred to it as a relationship. The only reason she had started up with him was to get back at Aerith. All the men she knew suddenly acted like that flower girl was the second coming once she got close to the legal age of consent, and Elena was just dirt. So she had invited Zack to the training room to get some of her own back from Aerith, but after a while she had started enjoying their time together more than she thought she would.

It wasn't just that sex was good, it was that he had a personality trait she both despised and desired, the ability to accept failure. In her family, failure wasn't tolerated. When Zack failed at something, he just shrugged and kept trying til he succeeded, considering it only a setback to him, not a personal failure. She kept pushing herself to be better than her sister, but she never felt good enough.


	2. Chapter 2

Aerith finished packing her suitcase and locked it shut before grabbing it and heading downstairs.

"I'll be back in two weeks, Mom. Don't worry, Rude won't let anything happen to me. I'm Shinra's most prized non-possession after all." Aerith told her foster mother before heading out the door to the waiting car with Rude in the driver's seat.

She put her suitcase in the backseat and got in the front passenger seat. "Let's go." Aerith smiled at him.

* * *

They arrived at the dock with just enough time to buy their tickets on the ferry that would take them to Costa del Sol. It was an overnight trip so they stayed in separate cabins. Rude had grumbled about the extra cost.

"It simply wouldn't do for member of such an elite group like the Turks to be scandalously found with an underage girl in his cabin, would it?" Aerith had teased him, then changed tactics to seal the deal. "Besides, aren't I worth the extra cost to you?"

Rude had wisely shut up then. And now as he went to his own cabin, he did so with ill grace and some nervousness at their impending resort stay. Aerith wanted to go wild at Costa del Sol and planned for him to be the first man she had sex with once she was 18, He didn't know what she was expecting and didn't want to disappoint her or upset her

When they arrived at Costa del Sol in the evening, they went to The Palace hotel and had them hold their luggage for a few hours while they went out to eat and see the sights. As they walked around the resort town, Aerith looked for what would be the hottest club to go to tomorrow for her birthday. They found a nice but affordable restaurant to have dinner at, and Rude ordered a beer before they even looked at the menus. Aerith ordered herself a soda.

"In three hours I can have my first beer and a few other firsts." she said when their drinks arrived and smiled at him. Rude took another drink of his beer.

When his steak and her mushroom alfredo arrived, Reno was on his second beer. By the time they had finished their dessert, he had finished three more.

"Okay it's after midnight so I'm legal, now we can check into the hotel and enjoy ourselves." Aerith smiled at him as they left the restaurant and headed back to the hotel. Rude was a little unsteady on his feet but other than that, he seemed fine.

At the front desk, they checked into one of the smaller rooms since Aerith wanted to save money for partying. She requested a bottle of champagne and honey-dipped strawberries be sent up to their room as Rude gave the front desk clerk his credit card before they got their luggage and took the elevator up to their room. Aerith had just started unpacking when the champagne and strawberries arrived. Rude popped the cork and poured the champagne into the two glasses while Aerith tipped the busboy.

"I'm going to change into something special, I'll be right back." Aerith grabbed something red and lacy from her suitcase and headed into the bathroom as soon as the busboy left.

Aerith came out a few minutes and found Rude passed out on the bed, his arm hanging over the side with the bottle of champagne standing up on the floor, his hand barely holding onto it. She picked it up and noticed the bottle was half-empty now. She frowned and got onto her side of the bed.

"So much for a birthday celebration." Aerith pouted, then remembered the honey-dipped strawberries. She got up and took the bowl over to Rude, and put a couple strawberries in his pocket, then washed her hands and went back to bed, pleased but not in the way she had hoped for.


	3. Chapter 3

Elena stood in front of the door, wondering what she had possessed her to agree to this. She reluctantly lifted her hand up and knocked on the door. A woman opened the door and smiled at her.

"You must be Elena! Zack was pleased when he got your message that you were able to come for a visit." The woman gestured for Elena to follow her into the house. "He and Jonathan are in the shop now, but it's almost lunch time so I'll show you to your room and you can get settled in, then meet us in the kitchen which is right through that door. Oh, and I'm Alicia, Zack's mother."

Once Alicia left Elena in the guest room to go finish lunch, Elena looked around her, feeling like she had just stepped into another universe. This was as far from her urban world as she had ever been. She had been all over the planet as a Turk, but it was always in hotels just for a bed to sleep in after the mission was accomplished. She changed out of her uniform into a summer dress, somewhat relieved to not feel like herself, she could pretend this was just a mission and she was undercover.

Jonathan and Zack had cleaned up in the shop, so Alicia let them sit down without a fuss. When Elena walked into the kitchen, Zack did a double-take as he and his dad stood up at her arrival. He didn't recognize her at first, and her behavior was different, it seemed forced or fake. After lunch, Alicia suggested they take a walk together.

"She's pretty." Jonathan said as he helped Alicia clean up the table.

"She is at that." Alicia grudgingly admitted.

"You don't like her?" Jonathan asked.

"I'm not sure yet." Alicia replied.

* * *

"I didn't recognize you at first." Zack said as they walked around his parent's farm.

"Is that good or bad?" Elena asked, unsure what she wanted him to say.

"Oh, um, good. And this is my dad's shop."

"Can I go inside and look around?"

"Sure, just don't touch anything. It's Dad's special place."

They walked in and Elena looked at all the tools, glad to see something she could relate to. "This is a treasure trove of weapons. That nail gun, these wood carving tools, that blow torch…and did you know you could drill into a person's head with the right tip on a cordless drill? And that wood stove could be used to dispose of a lot, but not bones." she explained

"Um, that's good to know." Zack said, having never thought of his dad's shop as a death trap.

They left the shop and Elena saw an overgrown path leading to the nearby woods. "Where did this lead?" she asked.

"Oh, when I was a kid, my buddies and I built sort of a fort there from leftover stuff out of my dad's shop. We used to take turns pretending we were the great Sephiroth, defending the damsel in distress." Zack replied, thinking how silly that must sound.

"Who was the damsel in distress?"

"Lucy. She lived next door to us then."

"Is that the same Lucy your mother mentioned at lunch?" Elena's voice suddenly had an edge to it.

"Yeah." Zack didn't want to elaborate, but he felt himself blushing.

"Well, I think I'm going to lay down now, it's been a long day for me so far." Elena said as she walked back to the house.

* * *

A week later, Elena lay in her bed trying to sleep. She was even less sure of what she was doing there as the days wore on. She was learning more about Zack and his upbringing, but it made the differences between them that more obvious. His parents just encouraged him to follow his dream of becoming SOLDIER First Class, but they would have encouraged him just as much to marry Lucy and stay in Gongaga if he had wanted to. There was always the subtle pressure in her family to excel in the military in some combat or tactical role. She remembered it being that way ever since she was a kid. And if you failed one of your practicals, you were partially shunned by the family until you passed.

Realizing she couldn't sleep, she got out of bed and planned to go down to the kitchen to make herself a cup of cocoa, but for some reason, she found herself in front of Zack's door, about to knock when she decided to just quietly open the door. He was asleep, but woke up when he felt her getting under the covers with him.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"I need help to sleep." Elena whispered as she took his hand and put it under her nightgown onto her hip, his fingers just grazing her ass.

"My parents are just down the hall." Zack protested even as his hand moved to caress her.

"I'll be quiet if you are." Elena said before she kissed him.

After they had sated themselves, Zack had fallen back asleep first. Elena's last thought before she followed him into dreamland was being surprised at how contented she felt.

* * *

In the morning, Alicia went to wake up Zack for breakfast, and was surprised to see his door slightly ajar, and she was upset to see Elena in his bed as well. Jonathan saw her standing in front of Zack's doorway when her hand on her hips, and went to see what the problem was.

"What's wrong?" he asked her.

"Look at that!" she whispered, pointing to Zack's bed, and Jonathan saw his son and Elena snuggled together, still asleep.

"So? He's a grown man, and they do look happy." Jonathan pointed out. "Is breakfast ready yet?"

Alicia stared hard at him. "You can get him up and downstairs then." she said as she headed back to the kitchen.


	4. Chapter 4

Rude woke up to a bad headache and groaned, then realized Aerith wasn't in the room. He got up and staggered to the bathroom for a couple aspirin. When he came back to the bedroom, he noticed a note on the nightstand.

 _I'm at the outside pool._  
 _Thanks for last night, big boy._

 _XOXO_  
 _Aerith_

Rude made himself a cup of coffee while waiting for the aspirin to kick in, wondering what Aerith meant by last night. He didn't remember anything, and he woke up still in his suit, and decided he better find Aerith and ask her in private. Once the headache was gone, he headed down to the pool. He spotted Aerith with a few other girls, chatting. She was in her bikini, a tropical flower in her hair behind her ear, and a mostly finished cocktail in her hand. She smiled when she saw him.

"You're finally awake!" she exclaimed, then frowned. "But you're still in your suit? How come you're not in something that shows that body of yours?" Aerith walked over to him and ran her free hand down his chest.

"How many of those have you had to drink?" Rude asked her as he took hold of her free hand before she went any lower.

"Oh this? It's called Spring Break, it tastes soooooooo good. This is my second one…but I'm ready for a third one now." Aerith downed the rest of her cocktail and turned to head back to the bar, but she was unsteady on her feet and turned too fast, slipping on a wet spot and falling into the pool.

Rude waited for her to resurface right away, but she didn't. Worried, he looked over and saw her struggling under the water against the wall, her mouth open as she tried to call for help. He jumped in and tried to pull her her out, but found the bikini tied around her neck stuck to something in the wall. She suddenly stopped moving, and Rude untied the bikini from her back and lifted it over her head.

He got them both out of the pool, and laid Aerith down carefully. She was still unconscious, so he checked her vitals and began resuscitation. A few moments later she started coughing up water. When she was done, Rude wrapped her up in a towel and picked her up to carry her back to their hotel room.

"I'm finally in your arms." Aerith said as she put her head against his chest and fell asleep on the way to the elevator.

* * *

When Aerith woke up again, she was in their hotel bed and heard Rude in the shower. She still felt a little out of it and thought a shower sounded like a good idea. She took off her bikini thong as she walked into the bathroom, realizing her top was already removed.

"What are you doing?" Rude asked her as she got in the shower with him.

"I need to get the pool water out of my hair. It's all icky right now." Aerith replied.

After she washed her hair, Aerith offered to help him lather up. He declined her offer, but her hands over him started to arouse him, and when she kissed him, he accepted her other offering. As they left the shower, Aerith was happy that Rude finally put out. She and Tifa had quite a few conversations once she knew that Aerith was going on holiday to have sex for the first time. It had hurt a little at first, but she had been warned about that. Once it quit hurting, it started feeling _really_ good.

* * *

Four days later, Aerith was lighting five candles in a candelabra on the low table at the foot of the bed while Rude ordered another bowl of honey dipped strawberries at her insistence, and lit himself a cigar while waiting. When they arrived, Aerith took the cigar from Rude and put it in the ashtray next to the candlebra, then showed him what their use was. As she was licking the honey off him, Rude took the extra pillow from behind his head to get more comfortable and threw it at the foot of the bed, and neither of them noticed it knock the candelabra and cigar onto the carpet.

"Now you do me." Aerith handed the bowl of strawberries to Rude when she was done.

As he was licking honey off her breasts, Aerith opened her eyes to reposition herself, and she saw the smoke. "Rude!" she cried out in alarm.

"I'm not going any faster." Rude said.

"No, look!" Aerith grabbed his head and turned it so he could see the smoke.

"Oh shit!" Rude rolled off the bed and grabbed a pillow to beat the tiny flames down.

Aerith grabbed a glass of clear liquid on Rude's nightstand to throw it on the fire. "No, that's not water, that's sco…" Rude started to say before the flames got worse, and they grabbed robes and Rude grabbed his wallet and phone, then they ran into the hallway and pulled the fire alarm.

The hotel didn't have any spare rooms, and charged Rude's credit card the remainder of their planned stay to cover the costs of the damage, so they cut their vacation short. On the ferry ride back home, they did share a cabin and a bed, but they didn't get much sleep.

* * *

"You're home early, did something go wrong with your vacation?" Elmyra asked as Aerith walked through the door looking tanned and happy.

"No, nothing went wrong…Rude passed out drunk, I nearly drowned in the hotel pool, we had sex, and nearly burned down our hotel room. Typical holiday."


	5. Chapter 5

Elena woke up in Zack's arms from a very restful sleep, awakened by his parents' conversation and his dad quietly closing the door. She was unsurprised that his mother wasn't too happy, she knew that she didn't belong in Zack's world. Zack woke up when his dad knocked five times. He was momentarily surprised to find Elena before he remembered her coming to him last night.

"Breakfast is ready. Be dressed and down in five, son." His dad called through the door and Zack and Elena both heard his footsteps head down the stairs.

"Time to wake up, Elena." Zack said, moving his arms away from her..

Elena turned over to face him. "I was up before you were. Are you always this much of a heavy sleeper?"

"Well, someone kept me up late last night." Zack replied, teasing her.

"I'll go back to my room and get dressed." Elena said, suddenly uncomfortable with the whole situation, and got up and snuck back to her room.

* * *

Elena was downstairs first, and a couple minutes later Zack sat down at the table as well.

"Did you both sleep well last night?" Alicia inquired, an edge to her voice.

"I've never slept better. I commend you on your furniture choices. I felt like I could do anything on the bed and it would be comfortable." Elena said with a smile. She could handle herself as long as she reminded herself this was enemy territory, and that she needed to stay on the offensive to not get backed into a corner.

"Yes, well, that's good to know." Jonathan said uncomfortably before he started eating, and Zack nearly choked on his orange juice.

"Do you know how to cook? I'm sure you know Zack needs real food, and lots of it." Alicia prodded Elena.

"I know how to use knives, but I don't have time to cook with my job." Elena replied as Jonathan and Zack continued eating, knowing better than to get in the middle of this.

"Hmmm…guess they don't teach women useful skills like they used to." Alicia said.

* * *

Two nights later, Zack came to Elena's room as they had agreed on earlier in the day. His dad, while they were working in his shop, had talked about discretion and not getting caught. Elena quietly opened and closed the door for him, then she smiled and pulled him against her and as they had sex against the door, Elena wondered what she was doing with him. It relieved her of the tension she felt from the subtle 'war' she was embroiled in with his mother, but she didn't even know why she agreed to visit his parents in the first place. As they finished having sex against the door, they moved to the bed.

"What are we doing?" she asked when they done, and she played with his hand like she was examining it, to try and downplay her question.

"You are acting like you've never seen a hand before and I'm watching you do it." Zack replied.

After Zack left, Elena fell into a frustrated sleep, realizing that she was enjoying being with him than she felt was safe for her to do so.

* * *

After breakfast the next morning, Elena went up to her room instead of wandering around the area doing recon, so Zack went up a few minutes later to find out what was going on, and he found Elena packing her suitcase.

"What are you doing?" he asked her.

"I'm going back to where I belong." Elena replied as Zack heard a chopper in the distance.

"You got recalled? Maybe I'll get back in the action too." Zack wondered aloud hopefully. "Here, let me take that for you." He grabbed her suitcase and headed downstairs before Elena could refuse his offer.

"I was recalled, but that's not why I'm leaving." Elena avoided looking at Zack as they walked to where the helicopter was landing.

"Huh?"

"We're not right for each other. We're too different." she explained.

"What's wrong with that? I like that you're different enough to surprise me. If you didn't keep me on my toes, I wouldn't be First Class yet."

Elena did like that Zack was so different from her as well, but something in her kept wanting her to push him away. She turned to face him as they stood next to the helicopter. "We don't know what we are, and when I asked you last night what we were doing, you didn't give me an answer."

Zack's cellphone rang then, and he barely heard it over the chopper blades. Putting his finger in one ear, he answered his phone. "Zack Fair here. Yes sir. Right now? Understood, sir." Zack hung up his phone then.

"Who was that?" Elena asked, though she had a good idea.

"I'm recalled too, there must be something huge going on. Listen, how about when this is over, we can meet for coffee and figure out what we are and what to do about it?"

Elena sighed. "Fine." She got into the helicopter, and stared down at Zack's figure as he backed away from the helicopter and shrunk before disappearing as the helicopter took off and took her back home.

* * *

Zack reported for duty, hoping that maybe with some time apart, he and Elena could get some needed perspective. He wasn't too sure what they were either, but she was different enough from other women he'd known that he didn't want to lose her. He walked into his superior's office for his assignment, noticing how tense everyone seemed.

"Good, you're finally here. We're heading to Nibelheim now." Sephiroth said.


	6. Chapter 6

"Do I know you?" Zack asked one of the trainees with them on the trip to Nibelheim.

"I don't think so, sir." the man with blond spiky hair replied. "Only person I know in town is Tifa."

"Tifa…I know that name…isn't she involved with Reno of the Turks?"

"Yes." the man answered sourly.

"I'm Zack Fair." Zack stuck his hand out.

"Cloud Strife." The man hesitated before shaking hands.

"Now that the introductions are over, can we focus on the mission? This isn't a gossipy tea party, this very well could be war." Sephiroth reminded them.

* * *

Reno and Rude stood by Elena's hospital bed, waiting for her to wake up. The doctors told them she'd be fine in a day or two. When the Turks got information about the incident at Nibelheim, Elena had paled and said she was fine, then a few moments later she collapsed and started bleeding.

"I told you we don't belong in each other's worlds." They heard Elena mumble suddenly.

"Elena! It's about time you woke up." Reno exclaimed.

She opened her eyes and wasn't sure why she was in a hospital. Then she realized she felt somewhat weak, and she remembered Nibelheim. Closing her eyes against that for a moment, she turned her head towards her colleagues and opened her eyes again.

"Why am I here?" she asked.

"We'll let the doctors tell you, we're going down to the cafeteria." Rude said, manhandling Reno out the door.

"What's going on? Why didn't you just tell her?" Reno asked as the elevator door closed on them.

"The doctors can tell her she had a miscarriage. She might have not even known she was pregnant, according to what the doctors said about how far along she was. And you know how private she is, she might not want us to know."

"I guess so." Reno used to be familiar with Elena's preferences before he hooked up with Tifa. He was surprised that she had gotten pregnant, he didn't think she wanted kids, and her being careless to get pregnant by accident was even more surprising to him.

* * *

Elena went to her apartment after she was released from the hospital, physically fine, but her mind was in a horrible state of turmoil. She didn't know how she was supposed to feel, she hadn't known exactly what she felt for Zack, and when the doctors told her she had miscarried and wound up in the hospital because she had lost a significant amount of blood, she felt like her body was acting like a grieving widow, but she didn't know if that was right. When she got into bed that night, her mind still wouldn't shut up about what she didn't know.

Rude was surprised to hear a knock on his door so late at night. Aerith woke up when she felt him get out of bed, and he told her that he'd be right back. Opening the front door, he was surprised to see Elena there, still in her pajamas and not looking too great.

"Can…can I stay here tonight?" Elena asked quietly. She would have gone to Reno's, knowing he never refused a woman wanting to stay overnight, but she needed someplace quiet right now. And she had never been to Rude's apartment, it was something new with no past history for her.

"Um, I'm not sur…." Rude started to say.

"Of course you can." Aerith said, coming up behind Rude, tying her robe around her.

Rude went to get extra blankets while Aerith led Elena to the couch, and then took the blankets from Rude.

"I miss him too." Aerith whispered as she spread the blankets over Elena, then went to rejoin Rude in bed.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Rude asked Aerith as she started fondling him.

"Elena staying here or us having sex while she is? You're a covert agent, you know how to avoid detection. Besides, she doesn't anyone else to turn to right now. I have you." Aerith smiled before she kissed him.

Elena lay on the couch, further confused that Aerith was being nice to her. If not for Aerith, Elena never would have gotten involved with Zack, and she wouldn't be here on Rude's couch right now. Elena eventually fell into a troubled sleep.


	7. Chapter 7

"How do you think she's doing?" Tseng asked Reno and Rude in a private meeting two months later.

"She seems okay." Reno shrugged. He would have tried his luck with Elena for comfort sex if he didn't have Tifa, so he didn't know how okay Elena really was.

"So you feel there's no reason for her to stop working for an evaluation?" Tseng looked hard at both of them.

"No, she's fine." Rude said, hoping Tseng didn't know Elena was becoming a frequent overnight guest on his couch.

"Dismissed." Tseng said and called a personal chef Rufus used frequently.

* * *

Elena was surprised when Tseng invited her to his place for a catered dinner. She had been worried that there might be a question of her fitness for duty when he called her into his office, because she found herself just staring out her office window with her hand on her stomach frequently when she was supposed to be typing up mission reports. And she didn't have anyone she could trust to talk to, so she did some research and took a trip on a day off.

 _"I know you can hear me." Elena said to the coffin. "I…I don't know who else to talk to. I'm a Turk, like you were." Elena blurted out her whole relationship with Zack. "I don't even know what he and I were…or what we could have been, and I'll never know now…."_

 _The coffin lid moved and a head popped out. "Turks and relationships don't mix, especially with outsiders." Vincent sighed with remembered pain. "We're only suited for each other. Now if you don't mind…" Vincent laid back down inside his coffin and reclosed it._

* * *

"I'm glad you're here." Tseng opened the door and gestured for her to come in. Elena wasn't surprised to see many expensive pieces of art tastefully spread through his condo. Some were probably looted during Turk missions, others most likely properly bought at auctions or galleries. After a gourmet dinner, Elena didn't hesitate when Tseng suggested they move it to the bedroom. She figured Vincent was right, she didn't belong with anyone but another Turk, and he was the boss. She just wished he didn't have black hair like Zack had.

* * *

Four years later, all hell broke loose when Zack and Cloud were found to be alive after escaping a research lab, and Tseng ordered his safe return before SOLDIER found them.

"I hope we do find him first." Reno told Rude during their almost nonstop aerial tracking. "I haven't seen Elena really smile since she thought he was dead. She claims to be happy with Tseng, but I dunno…"

"We just need to find him and bring him back to her." Rude wanted to find Zack alive, as much for Elena's sake as for Aerith's.

* * *

Elena walked into Tseng's office, wondering where he was when she saw a folder on his desk. Opening it and starting to glance at the contents, she felt the blood drain from her body, so stunned that she didn't hear Tseng come up behind her.

"What are you doing?" Tseng said in a worried tone as he grabbed the folder from her.

"Is it true?" Elena asked, her head spinning, and she put her hand on the chair to steady herself.

"You need to leave now." Tseng told her.

"It is! You knew…for four years, you knew!" Elena accused him.

"No, I didn't know until recently when they escaped. Elena, believe me, I…" Tseng went to put his hands on her shoulders.

"Don't ever touch me again!" Elena pushed him away and ran out the door.

* * *

Reno and Rude were about to give up when reports came over the radio that there was a massive conflict just outside of Midgar. Turning the helicopter that way, they hoped to get there in time.

Elena heard the reports too, grateful she was in Midgar. She took a gun and replacement cartridges and headed to the scene. She was too late, when she got there she saw a SOLDIER standing over Zack's bloodied body, and she shot him three times in the head, then proceeded to make sure every other SOLDIER there, regardless of their condition, had a bullet in the brain. She started to approach Zack when she heard the chopper.

"Elena, are you okay?" Rude shouted down to her.

She hesitated, unsure if she should go say goodbye to Zack or just go with Reno and Rude. Did she want her last memory of him to be a bloodied corpse or him smiling at her before she left Gongaga? The choice was made for her as the helicopter landed and Rude grabbed her and brought her into the helicopter and they took off right away.

"We gotta get back to base before we're spotted, sorry Elena." Reno told her over the intercom.

Elena looked down at the gun in her hand. "I was too late." She let it drop out of the helicopter to fall amongst all the bodies, and she thought she saw someone with blond spiky hair heading towards Zack, then Reno changed direction and she lost sight of it all, spending the rest of the flight in Rude's arms.

* * *

"Why don't you look happier, buddy? We're on vacation." Reno pointed out to Rude.

"I'm as happy as a clam beetle." Rude snapped back. Ever since Zack escaped and died, Aerith had been distancing herself from him, and then she met some Cloud guy and gave Rude a 'Dear John' letter.

"Look at all these women. Forget about Aerith for now. If she comes back to her senses, that's fine, in the meantime, look at all these honeys you can taste." Reno planned to since Tifa had had somewhat of a reunion with her childhood sweetheart, Cloud.

Elena wasn't really interested in a vacation, but it was something to do. As a parting gift to Tseng when she came to get her stuff from his condo, she gave him a black eye. She went back to the room she was sharing with Rude. She felt more comfortable staying with him. Reno would no doubt have a different woman every night in there, and she didn't want to interfere. So she and Rude were both in the room in their own beds about to sleep when his phone rang with information that Aerith had been killed.

Rude woke up the next morning, surprised to find Elena naked next to him. She woke up a few moments later, and tentatively smiled at him.

"Don't worry, it doesn't mean anything." Elena said, getting out of his bed and getting dressed.

Three months later, they were legally married at the courthouse and they moved into a new apartment. Elena kept trying to tell herself that it was just a business arrangement, but she did care for him. They had agreed to just live their own lives with no real claim to each other even, except a place to call home where they wouldn't be alone.

* * *

Elena packed her suitcase for her annual holiday and kissed Rude goodbye before heading out to her car. It took her two days to drive to Zack's grave, where she pulled out some weeds as she talked.

"Well, Rude and I have been married for two years now, but we're taking separate vacations. Oh, it's an open marriage, but neither of us fool around on these trips. I know he just goes to visit Aerith's grave like I do yours. And I just found I'm pregnant. I wonder if…" Elena started to get choked up and changed the subject. "I haven't told Rude yet. I'm not sure how he'll feel about being a parent. I'm more worried about our child having Reno for an uncle. If it's a boy, he might end up learning some bad habits from that man. I've got a few days left on my vacation so I better get going now. I'll see you next year after I have the baby."

Elena stood up and looked around at the nearly barren ground, remembering the day it was soaked in blood, before getting back into her car and start the long drive back home. Seven months later, she gave birth to a healthy baby boy, and she made Rude promise that Reno was never allowed to babysit their son under threat of castration.


End file.
